I posted this on another thread, but I was looking at our team and thinking about how our team is changing and becoming more flexible. We could have more scoring, and have some potential match-up challenges for teams that we didn't have or didn't use last year. ........... I think that our starting line-up is going to look a lot like it looked last year, but if that is the case look at our bench..... 5 -YAO -Deke and maybe Jake T 4 -HAYES -Landry, Hayes, 3 -BATTIER -Novak, Bonzi (maybe he'll show up this year), Justin Reed? 2 -TMAC -Snyder, Head, James 1 -RAFER or JAMES -James, Rafer, Brooks, V-span, JL3 Look at the posibilities of how our team can change into different styles of play. We have a deeper team than we did last year. Bonzi-maybe he'll be the player we needed. Novak and V-span have a year of "experiance" and should contribute more. If we keep Rafer his minuets will be cut which should help him contribute more when he plays. Look at this: 3pt shooters/very little D: Alston -1, Head-2, T-mac-3, Batier/Novak-4, Deke-5(rebounding) Speed Team: Brooks-1, James-2, T-Mac-3, Landry/Hayes-4, Yao-5(best option) scoring team: Mike James-1, Snyder-2, T-mac-3, Novak/Battier-4, Yao-5 D: James-1, T-mac-2 Batier-3, Landry-4, Deke or Yao-5..... Tall team: V-Span-1, Bonzi-2, T-mac-3, Novak-4, Yao-5 etc....of course the best is going to be a mix of all of the above. It just seems like we have more options with this team. I would like to see us pick up a Brad Miller type of decent shooting/good passing Center/PF (unless the job goes to Yao). I would also like to see up pick up a crazy rebounding tall PF. Then I would either like to teach one of our PG to play some real D or try and pick up a pass first super D PG (if one exists). What do you guys think?
Hmm that does make it sound good and optimistic. Lets just hope everything works out and the players play to their full potential.
I think....I love the James and Brooks additions. Ball handlers who can create and shoot. Those are nice appetizers for TMac. Now we need some appetizers for Yao. Darko would be just what the dr ordered if your looking for a brad miller type next to Yao. I could see a Divac/Webber like chemistry developing between those two. I hope the Rockets miss out on Rashard and hound Darko until he's sold on becoming a Rocket. you are right though, I like the way the roster is shaping up..so far.
Replace Alston with James at PG. James is a much better and consistant three point threat than Alston. Plus he can get to the basket and throw it out to an open guy at the perimeter.
Our team is changin' but of course that's not the end. We've already made one great deal but for me that's not the main. The most important thing is our new coach cause you play what your coach wants. Adelman wants offense and that's good choice with T-Mac and Yao. That change means everything for us - you'll se it next season. Now we only need PF...
Novak and V Span have a year of experience of what ---- sitting on the bench and participating in practices? A bench of Snyder, Jake T, Head, Brooks, and Novak is not so great. Which team in the conference has a worst bench than this?
I think if we could sell one or two of our 8 or 9 guards and get an athletic 4/5 guy that could really run and just do lay-ups and D, then we would be set to go fast when Yao is out for a breather.
I did say "experiance", meaning they didn't really get that much experiance. As far as our bench....I would say if you include Deke, Rafer, and Bonzi(if he plays hard) we have as good of a bench as anyone in the west short of the top 3. And if Dallas looses some of their pieces, like Stackhouse, George, and Harris we may be as good, if not beter. IMO
i don't think a team with 11 guards, 4 fowards, and 1 center can be very versitile. here's a point that hasn't been talked about yet: if the rockets re-sign hayes and deke, then sign thier 3 rookies, they have a team of: yao-deke hayes-landry shane-novak-snyder-reed tmac-bonzi-head-newly-sura rafer-james-brooks-billy-lucas 18 guys. we are also looking to use the MLE. that's a possible 19 or 20 guys on the roster. - newly and landry might not make the team this year. keep newly overseas and send landry to the d-league or overseas w/o signing him, but retaining the rights to him. - look for a 3-for-1 trade. or at least two 2-for-1 deals. all including guards (head, sura, billy, lucas) for bigs. - there is a possibility that the rockets lets billy walk. - there is a possibility (if the rockets can get a big through trade) that they don't spend the MLE.
James had a "down" season. Alston consistently shoots a low percentage, at least since joining the Rockets.
Head is too similar to James. And Snyder is basically a clone of Bonzi Wells. I see these two players traded for a power forward.
players increase thier 3pt% after joining the rox because of the open looks that tmac and yao get them. james shot 39% with the rockets last time he was on the team. the following year he shot 44% with toronto. james is a career 38% 3pt shooter. rafer also shot a career best in toronto (must be in the water) at 39%. he shot 36% with yao and tmac, and only averages 35% for his career. rafers best single season is only 1% better than james career average. there is no mistake that james is the better shooter.
i believe morey had said newley will be staying in au for at least another year. and with the glut of guards i do expect a possible 2/3 for 1 trade to get an upgrade in talent at one spot while making the roster a bit more balanced. if the rockets go into the season with a guard lineup of: james/rafer/brooks tmac/bonzi/head i would be fine
I don't see Reed on the roster, I also don't see JL3, Newly, and one of (V-span or Rafer) on the roster next year. I wouldn't include Sura as a roster body. With all of that said I do see the Rox doing a 2 or 3 for 1 trade, which is pretty incouraging, because that should mean we'll get a player that will contribute, and not just take up a seat on the bench. Ultimately, I see the Rockets with a full roster. YAO, DEKE, #3 Center/PF(would be good to get a guy that could play next to YAO at PF and fill in as a C), Battier, Hayes, Landry, T-Mac, Bonzi, Snyder, James, Brooks, Novak, V-span, Head. That is a total of 14 players, which is a full roster.
I would venture to say you probably are not real experienced at offseasons as your thread tells me that you actually believe that we will be running a 10 man rotation. Adelman would not run a 10 man if Shaq and Kobe were the odd men out. We will most likely run 8 or 9 with Mj, Bonzi, the Backup center, and possibly Snyder/Head.
I think James is a better scorer, but not shooter. Rafer really improved his shooting last year. Rafer has the afraid of the paint disease, and I can't stand that from a PG. Just my oppinion.
I agree, but last year we ran an 8 man rotation, at first. We had JL3 and a rookie V-span as our back up PG. We had a walk-on "Hayes" starting at PF, and a sporatic SG "Snyder" starting for us. Snyder got hurt, Bonzi wigged out, Deke, J-Ho, and Rafer ran out of gas, T-mac got hurt, Yao got hurt. So your keys of your rotation were not always available. Now we have more depth. We have more guys that can contribute. I like Brooks more than JL3. I like Mike James more than Rafer and even more than Head. I would like to see Novak play more. I can see V-span playing a biger role. We won't have a 10 man rotation, but we'll have more options to play different styles. Which will give Adelman more options as our coach. Agree?
I'm hoping our team looks a LOT different before we're done. We just didn't have the talent to compete at the top this year. I think we missed some good opportunities in the draft to get more talent, but perhaps Morey will make up for it in trades and FA. LLE - Francis is available in the next few days ... just a matter of whether Rockets want him, it seems. MLE - Amir Johnson is the guy I hope we nab with our MLE at PF. Of course, if Chauncey Billups is actually interested in the Rockets, and we could get him with our MLE, which I seriously doubt, we'd have to use it that way. If Detroit believed that, then they'd do a s&t, which I'd do, but then they'd have the money to get Johnson, and theres no way they'd let us get both. If that falls through, sounds like they're going after Joe Smith or Ely. Trade - Artest is nixed by the Maloofs, since they don't want to help Adelman. Too bad. That would have made a huge difference, and given us some great flexibility in trades. I expect us to keep Battier now, but if a major PF starter became available, he could be gone. I expect us to trade Head, hopefully for Simmons or Armstrong from NO. A trade for a vet forward seems to be Morey's biggest change, probably sending out Sura's expiring contract and 2 of Alston, Snyder, VSpan and possibly Novak. It would be valuable for Adelman to get VSpan to stay somehow, but if not, hopefully we could get some value for him in trade. I'm glad we didn't send him to Dallas for a 2nd rounder. S&T - Obviously top on the list is Lewis or Billups, but I don't expect either of those to pan out. Lewis can get 15 mil from SEA or ORL. SEA has so much talent now, they would be fun to run with for Lewis in the next 6 years. Making 110 mil and with a contender for the next 6 years is better than going home to the Rockets. ORL would be great in the East, with Howard, making them a contender, especially if they hold onto Millicic. I don't really see any S&Ts for us. I see this is as largely symbolic for the fans by Morey. I think they'll look around for some loose ends by the end of the summer, and make a trade for a veteran forward with someone. Who knows who that will be, but I expect that to be the biggest change on our roster. But in the end, it'll probably just be a collection of little changes, like: Yao/Deke/Armstrong or Simmons (vet from trade)/Johnson/Hayes/Landry TMac/Battier/Novak Wells/James/(Battier) Francis/VSpan/Brooks ... not really the big changes I had hoped for. The only way we'd be contenders is if Yao and TMac stay injury free and step it up more, with a few more scoring options than last year, especially with James, Wells and maybe Francis or VSpan. Maybe we'll get out of the first round, though.
